Sunshine Girls ramp up Quad series prep
WITH JAMAICA’S senior netballers now back in training with the Sunshine Girls squad, head coach Connie Francis said they have intensified their preparations ahead of their Quad Series, which will be hosted by England in January.
Nine members of the Sunshine Girls squad who represented the country at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England last summer were recently reinstated to the training squad by Netball Jamaica after a dispute resulting from their failure to show up for mandated trials in September.
Francis, who took over the coaching reins from Marvette Anderson in September, told The Gleaner that she is very happy that the impasse has ended, and she is now focusing on getting the Girls ready for the Quad Series.
“I am glad that everything is settled and we are all now together with new and older players, so we can just put all our attentions on this upcoming Quad Series,” Francis said.
“The training has always been intense because everybody is focused and they want to make the team and they are adjusting to my coaching style and we are here in one brain.”
The Quad Series, which also includes world champions New Zealand and South Africa, will be the first outing for the Sunshine Girls since their fifth-place finish at the World Cup in July.
Francis said that they are focused on doing well in the series because the team has made necessary adjustments to ensure that they are successful.
“I am also excited to see what they can do because with the type of material that we have and what they possess, they sky is the limit for us,” she said.
“We are just going to take it one session at a time and everybody is just working very hard to improve on what they need to do. It is important for us to do well because we didn’t do so well at the Netball World Cup this year. With the blend of girls that we have now, they certainly have the potential to create some upsets in this series.”